Stephen Harper to visit China next month

By Jason Fekete, Postmedia NewsJanuary 11, 2012

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper is heading to China next month for his second official visit, as his government looks to boost bilateral trade and ship more energy products to the Asian powerhouse.

Business leaders and political observers say the China trip is important for future trade deals, demonstrates a warming in Sino-Canadian relations and could allow Harper to meet with the new, incoming Chinese leadership.

Harper announced Wednesday in Ottawa, after meeting with Chinese Ambassador Zhang Junsai, that he has accepted an invitation to visit the country in the second week of February.

The prime minister is slated to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his visit, which initially was being planned for last fall.

"Our government is committed to moving our relationship with China forward by focusing on deepening economic ties, including opening new markets, and setting the foundation for long-term growth," Harper said in a statement.

Ambassador Zhang noted it will be Harper's second trip to China, and another signal that bilateral relations are improving.

"This relationship has been developing very rapidly in quite a few areas, especially in the economic areas," Zhang said following the meeting. "We hope that we will maintain this relationship and lift it up further after your visit."

Harper responded: "that's our mutual wish," adding that he's looking forward to the visit and that he has always had "good, vigorous conversations" with the Chinese president and premier.

China is Canada's second-largest trading partner, behind only the United States, and a key customer for Canadian natural resources and agricultural products.

State-owned Chinese oil and gas companies already have invested billions of dollars in Alberta's oilsands to help feed the country's insatiable energy appetite.

The Harper government is looking to increase petroleum exports to China, but those hopes are very much pinned on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project currently under review by the National Energy Board.

Public hearings began this week on the pipeline, which would ship oilsands bitumen from northern Alberta to a marine facility in Kitimat, B.C., where oil would be loaded onto tankers for export to Asia.

On the whole, bilateral trade with China has tripled since 2001, totalling nearly $58 billion in 2010. Canada also has been negotiating a foreign investment and protection agreement with China, which the government expects will increase two-way trade.

"We're certainly happy that he's going. It's something that we have been urging, that he do a return visit to China," said John Manley, president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.

"It's too big and important a part of the world economy for Canada to fail to engage."

Unlike liberal democracies, China can be a difficult country to penetrate for some small- and medium-size firms, he noted, so having strong bilateral relations is important for businesses.

Manley said the council is hoping the government can secure some sector-by-sector trade arrangements with China and also improve access for Canadian investment in the country.

The invitation comes on the heels of a November tete-a-tete between Harper and Hu at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Honolulu.

It was at that meeting that Harper scored some mild praise from Hu for Canada's commitment to forging stronger ties between the two countries.

The Conservatives have made China a priority since coming to power in 2006, with roughly 40 ministerial visits to the country.

Yuen Pau Woo, CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, said the timing of the visit is important because China is slowly transitioning to new leadership. Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping is expected to succeed Hu as president next year.

Canada, however, must develop a broader strategy for engaging China and Asia, Woo said.

"The Chinese will be very interested to hear from Mr. Harper, who has been very public about Canada's interest in diversifying our energy markets," he said.

But China is "both wary and maybe even a bit suspicious" about the emerging Trans-Pacific Partnership trade group that Canada is looking to join, he added. The partnership already includes the U.S. and other Pacific Rim nations, but not China.

"It's very important to send signals that it's no attempt to try and corner China or to contain China," Woo said.

Sino-Canadian relations haven't always been so rosy.

In 2006, the federal Conservative government angered China by awarding the Dalai Lama honorary Canadian citizenship, which erased some of the goodwill gained when Harper apologized for Canada's infamous Chinese head tax.

The following year, relations plunged into a deeper chill, when Harper met the Tibetan spiritual leader in his office.

Moreover, Harper has expressed his unhappiness with China's human-rights record and waited nearly four years from taking office to make his first trip to the country.

When he visited Beijing two years ago, he was scolded by Premier Wen, who said Harper waited "too long" to visit China.

Harper and Hu, however, have slowly mended the relationship over the last two years, which observers say is critical.

Canada has the natural resources to feed China's energy demand and must continue to diversify its export markets beyond the United States, said Gordon Houlden, director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta.

Furthermore, Canada is facing "ferocious competition" in drawing the attention of the Chinese leadership, he said, so the federal government must make regular trips to the country.

"They are far more important to us, in some ways, than we are to them," Houlden said. "Personal relationships matter, so you have to go."

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